The inductive argument from evil and the human cognitive condition

Abstract

Rowe and others have argued that since there are cases of suffering that, so far as we can see, God would have no sufficient reason to permit, it is reasonable to conclude that God does not exist. In opposition, I contend that our cognitive situation is such that we are not able to show that various suggested reasons are not reasons that God might have. I consider a variety of theodicies and argue in each case that we are not in a position to exclude the possibility that the theodicy might embody at least part of God’s reason for permitting the suffering in question.